Drums shows spirit, while dances show power. Together, drum dance is inspiring and stimulating. On the night of March 30, the International Percussion Performance was in full swing at the Student Center Hall on Tianjin University Peiyangyuan Campus. As one of Tianjin University’s 12th International Cultural Festival Series, the performance was held by the 24 Festive Drum Club founded by the Malaysian students at Tianjin University (TJU).
The 24 Festive Drum performance was conceived by Malaysian musician Chen Huichong and poet Chen Zhaofan together in 1988. Combining the features of Guangdong lion drums and traditional Chinese calligraphy, the 24 Festive Drum performances are often grand and inspiring. In 2009, the piece was listed as Malaysia’s national intangible cultural heritage.
The Tianjin University 24 Festive Drum Club performing
In honor of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia as well as to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the club’s establishment, the 24 Festive Drum Club invited two Malaysian professional Drum troupes—Northern Drum and Frhythm (Rhythmic Feelings & Senses) and the 24 Festive Drum Team of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to give a full play to the 24 Festive Drum Dance which is part of Malaysia’s intangible cultural heritage.
In his greeting speech, Mo Zelin from Malaysia, Chairman of the Association of Graduates from Universities and Colleges of China expressed his hope that the 24 Festive Drum Club of TJU would shoulder the responsibility of inheriting and promoting Malaysian’s drum culture and become a culture envoy between China and Malaysia.
Malaysian professional drum groups performing
The TJU drum club performed the first dance “The story of Tianjin”, an original creation telling the stories of how the people of Tianjin rose up in a shamble wreaked by war and looting in the early 20th century. Then audience was entertained with an African drum performance by a Ghanaian student and a traditional Cambodian dance by the Tianjin Cambodian dance group. The Shanghai Jiao Tong University 24 Festive Drum troupe engaged the audience with a dance called ‘’Yi Ming”. The performance reached its apex when the two professional Malaysia drum teams put on their show, four pieces of dance in a row, bringing vividly on stage not only ethnic Chinese culture but also cultures of other ethnic groups in Malaysia. The heart-touching drumbeats, the robust and lively dances, the fascinating folk songs and the passionate shouting amid performances, all together triggered waves of cheers and applause from the audience.
Chen Zhihua (center), Dean of TJU International Education School, Li Qiang ( to Chen’s left), Party Secretary of TJU International Education School and Mo Zelin ( to Chen’s right), Chairman of the Association of Graduates from Universities and Colleges of China, take photo with drummers and workers.
Simon from the Czech Republic, currently a graduate student majoring in architecture at Tianjin University confessed that he had never seen anything so extraordinary before. “The drum art is really amazing.” Gao Pengfei is a Chinese graduate student from the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology. He used “marvelous” to describe the performances. As a Chinese, he said he felt the connection between Chinese traditional culture and the 24 festive drum culture. “To me, the drum dance seems fresh yet familiar due to common culture background.” Gao said.
According to Chen Zhihua, Dean of the School of International Education, the number of Malaysian students choosing to study at Tianjin University has grown leaps and bounds from one student in 2016 to sixty-nine students today thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative. The university has been focusing on fostering inter-cultural communications among international students through activities like the “International Cultural Festival” and “Reading China” activity.
